Hilarious Spoof Commercial Shows Just How Much Women Have To Put Up With

Comedy Central’s commercial parody is a hilarious take on the modern state of gender inequality. Well, hilarious in a you-earn-less-than-your-male-counterpart kind of way. While women have made great strides in achieving equality yet as young girls grow up these they will likely still have to contend with the many challenges in the “Glass ceiling” game.

The three girls are gathered around a game board as a happy jingle sings: You can be anything you want to be when you’re a woman in the working world. But the girls soon discover that this isn’t entirely true. When ‘Stacey’ announces, “I’m gonna be the nation’s number one investment banker!” she is quickly shut down by the voice-over narration. A cheerful, disembodied female voice tells her sure she can be an investment banker, but asks ‘does she really think she can be number one?’

Recent US Census data indicatesthat for the first time women have reached parity with men in the United States when it comes to third level education. Third level education is hugely important factorfor gaining employment, and having higher earnings. As the girls playing the Glass Ceiling game quickly learn this is not all that helpful when: “it makes your boss Doug feel emasculated.” In the game, like in the real world getting a job is only the beginning in an uphill battle for many women. In the work place they will still likely face setbacks from sexual discrimination as well as sexual harassment. Women are still unrepresented in leadership roles in the both the corporateand politicalworlds

Even in progressive countries there are still many people who believe that men are more entitled to opportunity than women. Sadly, even as women work hard and educate themselves, it is not surprising that they still lag behind when people still believe they are less deserving of employment because of their gender.

And that is the reality for women and girls. Previous generationshave fought important battles and women continue to fightso that girls can easily declare that ‘when I grow up I’m gonna be a doctor!’ or ‘I’m gonna be a lawyer!’ Nonetheless women continue to face challenges that keeping them from achieving all of their goals. And as Stacey so aptly puts it in the video: “But none of this is fair.”

A Canadian, currently located in Dublin, Nikita Oliver-Lew has an avid interest in all things political. She has an MSc in Comparative European Politics from Trinity College Dublin and hopes to return to her PhD studies on migration in Europe.